M: Maternity/Paternity Leave

Paid family leave combats poverty, gives children a healthy start, and lowers the wage gap between women and men by providing structural support to balance work and family.

Selena's Story

Selena's baby boy, Connor, was born six weeks early. As Connor was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit, Selena found herself alone in a hospital bed realizing that she was going to go home well before her baby. "There was no way we could afford for me to take off more than we planned,” recalls Selena. So after Selena had the baby on Thursday, she was released from the hospital Friday, and was back at her desk on Monday morning. “It was the hardest two and a half weeks of my life,” she says recalling the ache of being away from her newborn son. More

Know the Facts

Having a baby is a leading cause of "poverty spells" in the U.S. -- when income dips below what's needed for basic living expenses.
In the U.S., 49% of mothers cobble together paid leave following childbirth by using sick days, vacation days, disability leave, and maternity leave.
51% of new mothers lack any paid leave -- so some take unpaid leave, some quit, some even lose their jobs.
The U.S is one of only 4 countries that doesn't offer paid leave to new mothers -- the others are Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Lesotho.
Paid family leave has been shown to reduce infant mortality by as much as 20% (and the U.S. ranks a low 37th of all countries in infant mortality).

What You Can Do

MomsBlogging on Maternity & Paternity Leave

Fantasy State of the Union

Posted January 25th, 2012 by Valerie Young

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org My sister Americans: The state of our union is strong. Electing women to fully 51% of public offices has ushered in a new era in our great experiment in democracy. Legislators now put the common good ahead of their personal power and individual gain. We, [...]

MomsRising is Live Tweeting the State of the Union. Join Us!

Posted January 24th, 2012 by Monifa Bandele

Great news! MomsRising got invited to tweet at the White House during tonight’s State of the Union speech by the President! And I’ll be there representing us. We’ll be keeping our ears open for the issues that matter every day to families, like health care coverage, unemployment insurance, fair pay, paid sick days and paid [...]

Posted Under: E: Excellent Childcare H: Environmental Health M: Maternity & Paternity Leave O: Open Flexible Work R: Realistic & Fair Wages S: Sick Days, Paid

On Women and Guilt

Posted December 20th, 2011 by Misty McLaughlin

Another smart post from our friends at Role/Reboot. -Eds. I’m on the board of a small, parenting-related nonprofit organization, a board comprised of smart, thoughtful women who are mostly mothers of small children (and one dad, though our father pool is growing). In addition to our full-time parenting jobs, pretty much all of us have [...]

Posted Under: M: Maternity & Paternity Leave O: High-Commitment Workplaces O: Open Flexible Work